IN BRIEF : Barkley-Duran Bout Set for Feb. 24

Iran Barkley will make the first defense of his World Boxing Council middleweight title against former three-time champion Roberto Duran on Feb. 24 in Atlantic City, N.J., promoter Bob Arum announced today.

Barkley won the title last June by knocking out Thomas Hearns in the third round at Las Vegas.

Duran, 37, has been fighting since 1967. At various times he held the world lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight titles. He captured the World Boxing Assn.’s welterweight crown from Sugar Ray Leonard in June, 1980, and lost it back to Leonard five months later.

The Barkley-Duran bout will headline a card that will include the professional debuts of Olympic boxing champions Ray Mercer, a heavyweight, and Kennedy McKinney, a bantamweight. The card will be carried on closed-circuit and pay-per-view television.